Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi

About the film

Contains story spoilers.

The film begins with the Resistance evacuating its base as the First Order arrives. Poe Dameron disobeys Leia’s order and leads a bomber attack against a dreadnought; it destroys the target but costs the Resistance many pilots and ships. Leia demotes Poe, then leads the surviving fleet into hyperspace. The First Order can track them through the jump, so the pursuit continues while the Resistance’s fuel dwindles. The opening establishes a practical crisis—there are few ships and no easy escape—and a conflict over leadership. Poe sees an opportunity to strike; Leia weighs the lives that such a strike will cost, and the fleet has to endure the consequences of both decisions.

Rey reaches Ahch-To hoping Luke Skywalker will return to help the Resistance. He has withdrawn from the Jedi and refuses at first, believing the order should end. He eventually agrees to teach her, but the lessons reveal his reluctance and her impatience as much as any doctrine. Through a Force connection, Rey and Kylo Ren can speak across distance, and their conversations make each curious about the other’s account of the past. Kylo tells Rey that Luke feared his power; Luke later admits that he ignited his lightsaber in a momentary impulse after sensing the destruction Ben might bring, then immediately regretted it. Kylo’s account of the moment and Luke’s account of his fear do not match, and the film keeps that difference attached to what each character knows and remembers.

Rey decides Kylo may still turn away from the First Order and leaves the island. Luke, meanwhile, prepares to destroy the Jedi texts but hesitates until Yoda’s spirit appears and brings the library down with a bolt of lightning. The ancient books survive: Rey has already taken them, and they can later be seen aboard the Falcon. Yoda’s visit reframes Luke’s self-punishment: the old teacher reminds him that failure can be a source of learning rather than a reason to abandon every responsibility. Across the galaxy, Poe entrusts Finn, mechanic Rose Tico, and BB-8 with a mission to disable the First Order’s tracking system. They travel to Canto Bight to find a codebreaker, escape with the help of enslaved stable children and freed racing animals, and recruit DJ, whose willingness to switch sides is guided by payment rather than loyalty.

Vice-Admiral Holdo takes command of the Resistance fleet while Leia recovers. Poe distrusts her silence and believes the fleet needs a direct escape plan; Holdo is secretly preparing to evacuate survivors in small transports toward Crait. Poe’s mutiny delays that plan until Leia returns and stuns him, allowing Holdo to proceed. Meanwhile, Finn, Rose, and DJ infiltrate the First Order flagship but are captured by Captain Phasma. DJ buys his freedom by telling the First Order about the evacuation shuttles. The plan becomes a real danger for the small ships. Holdo remains aboard the flagship as a decoy, then pilots it through the pursuing fleet at lightspeed, crippling the enemy ships and giving the evacuees a chance to reach Crait.

Rey enters Snoke’s flagship hoping to persuade Kylo to join her. Snoke claims he used their Force connection to find Luke and orders Kylo to kill her. Kylo instead kills Snoke, and the two defeat the Praetorian Guard together. Rey believes this means Kylo has turned away from the dark side, but he asks her to rule beside him and she refuses. They struggle over Luke’s lightsaber until it breaks. Rey escapes the wreckage; Kylo takes Snoke’s position as Supreme Leader. The scene hinges on the gap between temporary cooperation and lasting allegiance. Rey has seen Kylo reject one command, but his next choice makes clear that he intends to lead the First Order rather than abandon it.

On Crait, the remaining Resistance fighters take shelter in an abandoned base while First Order walkers approach. Finn and Poe lead a desperate attack in obsolete speeders, and Rose stops Finn from making a self-sacrificing run at the enemy cannon. Chewbacca and Rey draw TIE fighters away in the Millennium Falcon. The cannon breaches the base entrance, and Luke appears to confront Kylo. Their duel seems to give the survivors time, but Kylo eventually realizes Luke is projecting his image from Ahch-To rather than standing physically on Crait. Rey helps the Resistance escape aboard the Falcon; the exhausted Luke dies peacefully on the island. The Resistance has lost its base and most of its fleet, yet Leia and Rey see a reason to continue, and the closing scene shows Luke’s story reaching children far beyond their small group.

Rian Johnson structures the film around parallel pressures: a fleet running out of fuel, Rey’s attempt to understand Luke, and Finn and Rose’s mission to interrupt the tracking system. Their strands all concern what counts as a useful action when the Resistance lacks strength. Poe’s boldness produces a costly victory and later a mutiny; Holdo’s quiet plan saves some people but is partly compromised by a betrayal; Luke’s final intervention is a projection that wins time rather than a physical defeat of the First Order. The film’s settings make those different forms of resistance visible, from the moving fleet and casino city to Crait’s white salt crust over red ground. The last image returns to the stable children. One quietly draws a broom toward himself with the Force, connecting the struggle of famous heroes to a child whose own possibilities are only beginning.